Not sure if this is the proper spot for this post. If not let me know and I will move it.
I have an approximately 3 acre established pond at full pool that we pumped pretty low this past spring. We dug a 10ft deep channel on the southern long shoreline and two 50x50 ft wide 10ft deep holes on the opposite shoreline. The rest of the pond is approx 4-5 ft deep at full pool with 2 grassy peninsulas. The pond has lots of shore vegetation out into the water about 15ft into about 3ft of water. There is no bottom vegetation due to, I assume, to the large population of tilapia. The bottom is a brown sand...not much silt. During the digging the pond was low and very muddy but we did not have a fish kill.
Presently in the pond are LMB, Bluegill, Tilapia, Golden shiners, walking catfish, maybe bullheads,mosquito minnows, soft and hard shell turtles and the occasional gator which I remove. The bass are pretty large... I don’t fish it much however I have caught and released two very healthy 6lb bass a couple years ago. I suspect larger fish are in there. The Tilapia are large as well. Bluegill seem to be around 6 inches.
I have hand fed the fish for several years.... mostly dog food but lately catfish chow.
A few weeks ago I put in 750 bluegill, 300 shellcrackers, 3lbs grass shrimp, 3lbs fathead minnows, 3 lbs of Golden shiners, 400 5” CC and 35 5-6” F1 bass.
Before I found this forum.
I’d like to do more but would like input.
My goals are to grow some big bass and bluegill by upping and adding more variety to the forage. Would like input on the introduction of shad.
Harvest the occasional CC and Tilapia.
I really wanted to introduce Black crappie to harvest but hesitate after reading it might not be a good idea in the long term if I want a good population of large bass.
I posted another area that I have a smaller pond looking to turn it into a forage/bait pond.
Last edited by LuckyDuck; 11/28/22 09:40 AM.
